News

Priory to care for troubled troops

DEFENCE chiefs have signed a contract to hand care for soldiers with psychological problems to celebrity clinics, writes Gareth Walsh.

Under the deal, service men and women will from tomorrow be admitted to Priory clinics for treatment for a range of disorders from alcoholism to anorexia.

The move will come as a blow to the prestige of the forces?? own medics. Last April, the army??s record of handling mental illness was criticised as ??inefficient?? in a British Journal of Psychiatry report.

The defence medical service has also previously been attacked by the Commons defence select committee for a crippling shortage of trained staff in key areas.

The chief executive of the Priory clinics is Chai Patel, 49, who donated ??5,000 to the Labour Party in 1999.

Patel is also secretary of the Institute for Public Policy Research, a think tank close to new Labour. He has also advised the party